KS2

KS2

Ages 7-11

The Historic Dockyard provides the perfect setting to support your Key Stage Two pupils’ learning in a variety of curriculum areas. Children are sure to be inspired by our inspiring, authentic settings, providing a real-life context for their classroom learning.

The dockyard was operational for 400 years, over which time it shaped the development of the Medway Towns and employed many local people, making it the ideal location for local history studies. However, as a centre of technical innovation and cutting-edge design of its day, the site is also ideal for the study of Science, Technology and Engineering.

For a whole day of taught activities, choose one of our Special Packages, combining three of our hour-long taught sessions, specially designed to support the new Key Stage Two curriculum. Alternatively, mix and match sessions from different packages to create your ideal combination. If you wish to have fewer than three taught activities, all sessions are also available to book individually.

Michael Foreman is a well respected illustrator and author. Visit the exhibition, then take a closer look at one of his beloved books. ‘The Amazing Tale of Ali Pasha’. The pupils will then link Geometry and Art by investigating how shapes tessellate.

Life aboard a sailing ship

Experience what life was like for sailors in the Georgian Navy with this session on board our sloop HMS Gannet. Gain an understanding of sailors’ language and custom, daily routines and the punishments given out to those who misbehaved.

A Square Meal

Discover the diets of 18th Century sailors and how this affected their health and hygiene. Take a peek into the doctor’s medicine box and meet some of the creepy crawlies that would be kept aboard ship. Students even get the chance to have a taste of the Hard Tack biscuit, as well as a few other foods the sailors would eat.

Full Speed Ahead! Ship Building Challenge

Stimulated by the National Maritime Museum model collection, pupils work in groups to build a ship’s hull and fit it with a motor. Facing the challenge of the tow tank wind and wave machine, groups compete against each other in trials, evaluating their designs and developing technical knowledge of how a ship’s design impacts on its performance.

Rope making and Knot-tying

Learn about the rope making process in the Victorian Ropery, the longest brick building in Europe and make your own piece of rope on our specially designed model machine. Use your rope to tie some of the knots used on sailing ships. Each child will also receive an individual rope sample to take away with them.

What’s in the Bag? Object handling and identification

Your class will use their investigative powers to compare and classify materials ‘in the bag’, discover and give reasons for their uses on ships. The session ends at our bespoke ship-model testing tank where pupils work in groups to build a boat from polymer.

Grace Darling: Shipwrecks and rescues

Pupils will experience the highlights of the largest collection of RNLI Historic lifeboats in the country and learn about the inspirational story of Victorian heroine Grace Darling in the atmospheric lifeboat station. Inspired by Grace’s story, pupils will construct an electrical circuit to make their own lighthouse.

Ready, Aim, Fire: Rocket Launching

Taking their inspiration from the Sea Cat missiles on board HMS Cavalier, The Historic Dockyard’s own Destroyer, your pupils will work in teams to create rockets and fire them from our specially designed air pressure launcher, aiming to hit a target. Which team will sink the battleship?

Spinning a Yarn: Working in the Victorian Ropery

Tread the ¼ mile ropewalk with one of our Victorian Ropery characters, listening to their fascinating story. Find out what life was like in a Victorian factory and how the Factory Acts changed working conditions. Hand-picked apprentices will make a piece of rope on our scale model rope making machine.

Take Cover! Air Raid Experience

Lead your pupils to the safety of our genuine Second World War Air Raid Shelter. Experience the sights, smells and sounds of an Air Raid in one of the Admiralty’s ‘most luxurious’ shelters of the time. Read a wartime child’s personal account of their experiences of air raids and shelter life.

Zig Zag, Zig, Zag: Bringing Literacy to Life

Pupils gain first-hand experience of life on board a Destroyer and on experiencing a walk-through of HM Submarine Ocelot; pupils also build an understanding of life beneath the waves aboard the enemy’s submarines. Sure to be a poetry lesson they will never forget, this session really brings literacy to life.

Step Aboard HMS Cavalier (1944)

Explore life above and below deck aboard the Royal Navy’s last operational Second World War Destroyer. Learning about its voyages and the conditions on board for the sailors, pupils will gain an understanding of the challenges facing those who manned this magnificent protector of the Atlantic Convoys.

Prices

Activity Sessions (additional charges)

Subtitle: Prices based on a group of 30 pupils

Activity

Price

Single Session

£60.00

Whole Day

(Three sessions for the price of two)

*3 for 2 offer applies to 3 activities on the same day for the same group of 30 pupils

£120.00*

Prices correct at the time of publication (May 2016)

Step Aboard HMS Ocelot (1962)

Explore life below deck aboard the last submarine built at Chatham for the Royal Navy in 1962. Learn about life aboard and experience the conditions the ratings lived in.

Step Aboard HMS Gannet (1878)

Built in Sheerness, HMS Gannet is a Victorian gun boat and patrolled the limits of the British Empire; The tour includes the interactive elements below deck – knot tying, a real hammock and the crew portrait.

Local History Study

Key Stage 2 & 3

For nearly 400 years, The Dockyard shaped the physical and human fortunes of the Medway Towns. A local centre of innovation and technology, at the height of its operation, Chatham Dockyard was responsible for the education and employment of more than 17,000 local people and covered an area of over 400 acres. The expansion and later closure of the dockyard shaped the local area as it is today.

A local history study of The Dockyard gives pupils in Kent and Medway a vital insight into their region’s industrial past and the key to developing their wider understanding of both their local area and Chatham Dockyard’s contribution to Britain’s past, present and future. With more than four centuries of history to explore at The Dockyard, the site is a rich resource for a depth study of a variety of themes over time, such as ‘Working conditions’ ‘Industry’ or ‘Transport’.

We can support you in delivering a local history study on The Dockyard and we can provide the following:

Support and tailored information to help you structure and plan your study.

Bespoke itineraries for a visit to our site, to enable you to tailor your visit to the key areas of history on which you wish to focus.